What is the relationship between mood disorders and suicide? - Chapter 6 (Abnormal Psychology)

Two different mood disorders are discussed below. Bipolar disorder is a disorder with periods of mania and periods of depression. Someone with a unipolar disorder only suffers from depression (not mania). Furthermore suicide is treated, or suicide.

Unipolar disorder

People with depression are completely confiscated by the disorder; depression affects the emotions, body functions, behaviours and thoughts of man.

The most important emotional symptoms in someone with a unipolar disorder are the sadness and the loss of all interest in life, which is referred to by the term anhedonia.

Many have also in people with depression body functions changed. These are changes in appetite, sleep and activity. Some people with depression have very little appetite, whereas others, on the other hand, very much.

In their behavior , many depressed people show changes in their way of moving. For example, they move very slowly in everything they do. This is called psychomotor retardation . Many people feel that they have little energy and that they are constantly tired. A small part of the depressed people feels restless. These people have opposite symptoms: psychomotor agitation, in which people feel physically agitated, can not sit still and walk around aimlessly or fidget.

The cognitive symptoms of depression are all kinds of thoughts about, for example, hopelessness, shame and suicide. In serious cases, there are also delusions and hallucinations. Delusions are thoughts that have no basis in reality. Hallucinations are observations that someone has, who are not actually there.

Depression can take different forms. Major depressive disorder is a severe depression that lasts at least two weeks. The diagnosis requires that someone feels depressed or has a loss of interest in daily activities. In addition, at least four other symptoms of depression must be present. According to the DSM-IV, there are two types of unipolar depression: major depression and dysthymic disorder. The difference between these two disorders is that a major depression is of shorter duration, but very intense. Dysthymic disorder is a chronic form of depression, which lasts for at least one year in adolescents and two years in adults. This depression can be less severe a major depressive disorder. A person must have a depressed mood and his interest in life must be lost. In addition, there must be at least four other symptoms of depression for at least two

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